


loverboy

by kkitsunii



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, hot chocolate is the key to meeting your soulmate if you wanted to know, miya is a wingman, well sorta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 11:33:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29775534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kkitsunii/pseuds/kkitsunii
Summary: Reki meets his soulmate on a Tuesday.Although, it's not like he realized it at the time, too busy scribbling notes on napkins back and forth before either of them got the courage to actually speak to each other. Reki had a plan, and a good one at that. Unfortunately, he's shit at following them.Meanwhile, Joe loses a bet.
Relationships: Hasegawa Langa/Kyan Reki
Comments: 8
Kudos: 249





	loverboy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cruci4l](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cruci4l/gifts).



> hello! this idea came to me mid-writing a different sk8 one shot, and then proceeded to not leave my mind until i wrote it. my friend absolutely loves soumates aus, and coffee shops so i just combined them and out came this, which honestly is one of the first one shots i've done in ages. woo!
> 
> in any case, I hope you enjoy!

Reki meets his soulmate on a Tuesday.

Although it's not like he notices anyway, he was too busy trying to find his nametag and sewing his apron back together while praying to god Cherry Blossom didn’t walk through the shop doors. Which he does, of course he does.

Reki flashed him a smile, wide and toothy, and hoped that it was enough to distract Cherry from the cluttered counter full of sewing supplies and spilled coffee beans.

There was a half second where Reki nearly believed his half assed plan worked, but when he looked up at Cherry, who was still standing in the doorframe, he reassessed. Cherry was glaring, hard.

Reki was never the type to worry about getting fired. He came to work on time, rarely complained and had developed quite the following of customers who enjoyed his latte art. But the urge to propose the offer to do more unpaid overtime looked more and more appealing as Cherry stared at him.

Yeah. He could handle overtime.

Cherry took a long, hard sip out of his thermos. “You’re lucky you’re decent at latte art.” His voice was raspy, probably from the cold.

Cherry stood in the doorway for a few more seconds, propping the door open lazily with his back and flipping the closed sign to read ‘open’. Snow trickled in from the opening but he didn’t seem to mind.

A harsh wave of cold infiltrated the shop, making Reki wish he brought a better coat. It was winter, and yet the only sweater he could find in his room was a thin red one, which was about a size too big and looked weird in contrast with the green apron he used for work.

“Cherry, do you think you could clos —”

Almost as if on cue, Joe tumbled through the door, slipping on the same ice patch which nearly knocked Reki out when he first clocked in. Lumps of snow tumbled off of him as he collected himself, face bright red, but Reki doubted it was from the cold.

“You coulda told me there was ice,” Joe huffed, brushing off the remaining snow, half of which landed on Cherry’s thermos. He didn’t seem to notice.

Joe sucked in a breath as he fixed his clothing, shivering slightly because for some god awful reason Cherry _still_ hasn’t decided to shut the shop door. He noticed the thermos. Reki’s witnessed more scuffles between the two than he can count, and has had the misfortune to always somehow get dragged into Joe’s punishments. And as funny as they were to watch, they were never quite as entertaining when Reki found himself taking the brunt of Joe’s punishment.

The small jingle of the shop bell caused Reki to relax his shoulders as he saw the door finally swing shut. Only for them to tense as Miya sauntered in, dressed in heaps of layers that made him look ridiculous but warm. Reki felt a twinge of jealousy.

Miya, since the beginning of winter break, decided to hang out at Dope Blend from the opening time until closing under the notion that everyone’s ‘work personas’ were fun to heckle. Reki wished he could disagree, but considering he’s witnessed Cherry go from nearly throttling Joe to politely taking an elderly woman’s tea order, he couldn’t say anything.

Miya didn’t seem to mind the splatter of threads and felt patches on the counter as he perched himself on it, purposely knocking over the scissors which Reki balanced on the pastry display.

Reki narrowly dodged the scissors from landing on his foot. “Miya!”

“Customer’s safety first.” Miya responded, swinging his feet, acting a little too nonchalant for someone who nearly impaled Reki’s foot.

“ _Paying_ customers.” Reki made a light attempt at shoving Miya off the counter, hoping that Cherry would get distracted scolding him and totally ignore Reki’s coffee bean blunder. “This has to be some kind of health code violation.”

“Oh, it is.” Cherry sounded annoyed, striding over the few feet which separated him from Miya before tugging on his arm, successfully pulling him off the counter.

Joe followed not too far behind, admiring the freshly baked pastries Reki had added to the display before he had fumbled with refilling the coffee beans while simultaneously getting his apron caught on a hook, tearing it in a straight line.

Cherry’s eyes scanned the counter, bouncing between the coffee beans, to the tangled threads, to Reki, who blinked at him expectantly. Cherry let out a loud sigh. “Go to the back and scribble your name on one of the extra aprons. Lose your nametag again and it’ll be out of your pay.”

Miya snickered as Reki walked off into the backroom, sewing supplies in tow as he lamely put them in their respective places. It's times like these where Reki thinks he oughtta mention to Miya that _he’s_ the one in control of restocking his favorite fruit tart and he could very well ‘accidentally’ forget to make them for a week straight if he wanted to.

Although, even if he did say that, he doubts he’d go through with it.

Miya was annoying, a brat, and had the tendency to make fun of Reki everytime he got excited when someone cute came up to the counter. But, Miya was also his friend so at the end of the day no matter how annoying he got, Reki was sure to still supply him with his beloved fruit tarts.

There was a loud shout which made Reki flinch and nearly drop the sewing kit, shocking him out of his thoughts and making him turn around to catch both Joe and Miya staring at him, mid-conversation. He hurriedly pushed the kit into its place and grabbed his apron, eager to know what the two were so focused on.

In hindsight, he kinda wished he just didn’t ask.

“Reki, how old are you again?” Joe’s voice had a mischievous glint to it that made Reki squint at him, cautious.

Reki hesitated for a second, nearly giving Joe a fake age just to see where the conversation was going, but figured one look at his resume would out him anyway. “Seventeen.”

Joe’s eyes widened comically and his mouth formed a surprised ‘o’ before he talked again, whispering something to Miya before turning back to Reki.

Joe’s reaction combined with Miya’s smirk made Reki feel a little unsettled to say the absolute least, so as a distraction he began doodling his name in big bubbly letters onto his new apron. He waited for their looks to let up, for them to give him an explanation without him having to ask about it. But as the seconds droned on into a full minute, Reki figured the two were almost anticipating that he'd ask them about their motives.

So he did, albeit begrudgingly.

“What were you guys talking about? Joe’s shout scared the crap outta me so I’m guessing it’s something weird,” Reki said, adding the finishing touches to his doodles before tying his apron around his waist. It wasn’t the best thing he had ever drawn but it’d work.

Reki was taken aback to catch both Miya and Joe staring at him when he looked back up, their eyes fixated on his arm which was two seconds away from pushing the panic alarm underneath the counter. Reki was used to weird things, he had plenty of younger sisters, but this was quickly summing up to become the start of a horror film.

The wind outside battered the shop windows with snow as if in agreement.

“You have a plan to meet your soulmate soon?” Joe asked, feigning disinterest but his intrigued tone gave it away. Reki rubbed his arm, slightly self conscious now.

“Yeah, why?”

“Mmm, no reason, just sayin’ that I don’t think you’ll meet them before break ends.” Joe leaned forward and propped both elbows on the counter, eyes glinting with challenge.

Miya hummed. “We’ll see.”

Reki made an offended sound, but ultimately didn’t say anything.

He had already worked out his plan, even discussed it with his mom who gave him a thumbs up on it. The plan started with Reki deciding to call more attention to himself. He even bought a new headband to wear that was flashier than his last one, bigger too. Combined with the doodles on his apron and his latte art career taking off, he was set.

The only other person Reki told about his plan to find his soulmate quicker was Cherry, although considering Joe moved in with him a few months ago, it had probably slipped out in passing. It was practically foolproof, and when you tie in the fact that Reki was the most friendly looking worker here, there was no way it could go wrong. Well, unless he got fired. That would suck.

The bells to the shop jingled and in came their usual influx of customers, all ordering things from pastries to smoothies but ultimately crowding around Reki as he worked on the newest order of lattes.

Every so often, his heart would skip a beat whenever a particularly cute customer would talk to him, waiting for a warm heat to radiate from his soulmark. Which never did, but it's not like he minded all that much.

Not one bit.

Well, maybe he minded a little.

* * *

Time passed slowly, as it usually did in stormy weather, customers slowing down to a trickle as the weather picked up and dumped layers of snow across the roads outside.

If he was honest, Reki hadn’t even noticed the man standing outside the shop doors until he walked in, face bright red from the cold and his blue hair dusted with snowflakes.

He was definitely going to get sick.

Reki sent him a sympathetic look and was about to offer him a free cup of hot chocolate before Joe cut him off, apron tied lazily around his waist and fingers already tapping against the order display. “Welcome to Dope Blend, we only sell warm drinks, what do you want?”

Reki cast a glance at the smoothie blender and hoped that the guy didn’t decide to call Joe out for his lie.

The boy shook off the snow collecting in his hood and paused when he saw everyone in the shop staring at him, his eyes opening wide as he hustled over to the counter. He must’ve been new to the area, no local willingly let themselves get caught in a snowstorm when it had been predicted in the forecast for over a week now.

From where he stood, Reki could see his face better. And if his hand managed to falter a little bit while topping off the tree he was designing into the latte, it was most definitely not a coincidence. The boy, Langa, he corrected based on the name he gave Joe, was, in the most nonchalant way Reki could put it, breathtaking.

His cheeks were dusted a light pink and his nose was buried within a red scarf, except the scarf was crooked and still had a little bit of snow on it. Reki watched as Langa patted down his body before letting out a weak sigh, saying something to Joe about just wanting a hot cup of water, before dismissing himself.

Reki had gotten used to seeing pretty customers, there were plenty who stopped to talk to him as he decorated pastries or designed latte art, but Langa was on a whole other level of beautiful. Reki hadn’t even gotten to say anything to him yet, but somehow he was practically tripping over himself to finish this coffee order so he could deliver Langa’s order to his table.

They weren’t even that kind of coffee shop.

Reki nearly spilled half of the coffee out of the mug as he set it on the counter, a little too hard, before calling out the last customer’s name. He could hear Miya laughing at him, but he didn’t really mind, too focused on his new mission to talk to the new boy and hope to whatever god was listening that Langa was his soulmate.

There was a nudge at his shoulder.

Reki turned and nearly got smacked in the face by Joe’s forehead as he leaned in, hand cupped, trying to whisper something to him. Reki lent his ear, prepared to hear Joe go on a spiel as to why Reki should cover his shift as he went to go snowboard. He’s done it twice before, and Reki, despite always swearing he’ll never agree again, somehow gets roped in anyway.

Except that's not at all what Joe ends up saying.

“Loverboy over here forgot his wallet.”

Reki’s eyes widened a little and without thinking, darted over to Langa, who was sitting at a table all by himself, staring out the window.

“Wh- What’s that mean, what’d he order?” Reki’s voice was soft, just in case Langa had freakishly good hearing.

“A hot chocolate, slide a fiver in my tip jar and I’ll let it slide.”

“A five? Hot chocolates are three!” Reki whisper-yelled a little too hard, catching the attention of a few customers who lingered by the counter.

“ _Six_ , and I’ll cover the next few orders.”

“Deal.”

Joe pulled away, obviously satisfied when Reki slapped the money in his hand. Winter was the season of giving, and so if he had to lose a couple dollars to flirt with the pretty boy a few tables away from him, so be it. He pulled out a mug, the fancy sort that was only used for special events in the shop, and began working on creating the best damn hot chocolate Langa would ever have in his life.

Only, that was the plan. And Reki wasn’t known to follow plans all that well.

It was almost as if the universe wanted to have a laugh, because as soon as he had perfected the whipped cream mountain on the hot chocolate, complete with chocolate shavings and all the ‘works’ you could shove into a hot chocolate order, Cherry walked out from the back.

He paused when he saw Reki, but didn’t say anything as he swapped places with Joe and perched a rather big box of napkins on the counter. Reki doubted Cherry understood how dire the situation was, and was slightly convinced he had some sort of AI watching him, because somehow he always happened to know when Reki was up to his hijinks.

“Is that for the sick kid?” Cherry asked, pointing to the hot chocolate which was slowly transforming from the prettiest creation Reki has ever made to just a blob of melted whipped cream.

Reki frowned as he tried to fix it, squirting more whipped cream over the mess, in hopes to hide his mistakes. It worked, although not very well. Cherry rolled his eyes just as Miya snuck behind the counter, sneakily snatching one of the peppermints that were in Joe’s candy jar.

By the time Cherry turned back around, Miya was sitting back in his seat, peppermint plopped in his mouth already and smirking.

“Are you gonna buy something today or not, Miya.” Cherry snapped, forgetting about whatever task he was doing with the napkins and busying himself with scolding the fourteen year-old with too much time on his hands.

This was his chance.

Reki snatched the box of napkins from the counter and sneakily opened it, careful not to alert Cherry who was about three peppermints down and alternating between scolding Miya and smiling everytime a new customer strolled in.

Reki scribbled a quick little message onto the napkin, and even threw in a doodle of a snowman just in case Langa thought he was weird for paying for his drink. It wasn’t right? It was just an act of holiday cheer, unless Langa mistook it for Reki hitting on him and somehow reciprocated, then it was most definitely not _just_ an act of holiday cheer.

With a nervous smile and a bated breath, he slid the mug and the napkin over towards Cherry.

And added, “For the guy covered in snow,” for good measure.

* * *

The first napkin response was unexpected to say the least.

Reki had been tending to the counters, wiping up peppermint crumbs after Miya knocked over the candy jar on his third attempt to sneak a peppermint. It was unsuccessful and instead left Reki with glass shards scattered all over the floor and Cherry with a massive headache.

In fact, initially he thought the napkin was a piece of trash until he saw a note written on it and a really crappy doodle of a stick figure next to it. The way Langa had been able to sneak towards the counter and snatch a pen fascinated him, but also made him feel slightly uneasy. Had he been making a dumb face?

No, Miya would’ve already laughed at him for it if he did.

It was a weird sort of reassurance but it was enough to make Reki confidently respond to the note that read: _I’m not very good at drawing, but thank you for the drink :)_ , with his own, very suave note of: _Anytime man! Actually probably not, but I got you covered this time :]!_

For this note, he drew a doodle of himself giving a thumbs up before he sent the napkin off towards Miya, who had become his messenger boy after wreaking havoc during Reki’s shift. Langa was still seated alone, but this time he had moved a few tables closer to the counter. There were a few times where Reki almost snuck away to go sit with him, but Cherry would always peek his head out and catch him in the act.

Really, there oughtta be some AI cameras somewhere.

Reki and Langa exchanged a few more napkin notes before Miya finally walked behind the counter and took a seat on one of the stepping stools.

“Are you ever going to say hi to him? It’s been like twenty minutes,” Miya said, pulling a wrinkled napkin out of his pocket. The napkin was littered with stupid doodles and notes and honestly looked a little gross by now. There was maybe space for one or two more messages if Reki drew small, but even then it didn’t take away from how crappy the method of communication was.

“I’ll say hi when Cherry turns his back,” Reki said, turning the napkin every which way until he found the perfect angle to draw a coffee cup monster.

“Yeah, like that’s gonna happen.” Miya threw his head back to stare at the ceiling. He looked impatient. “I got money riding on this, so if I gotta distract Cherry I’ll just break a mug or something.”

“How much money did you jerks bet?” Reki stopped his drawings to glare at Miya, who in return, just looked at him with a cheeky grin.

There were a few things that spooked him about Miya, but the top one was the fact he was always so willing to find a way to mess with Joe or Cherry, just for the hell of it. Although, to be fair, he wasn’t the one working under them and he most definitely wasn’t someone they could all collectively decide to get rid of. He was like the gum under their shoe that added personality, a little inconvenient but stuck there for a long enough time to get attached.

Reki finished the final doodle with a smiley face and came to terms with the fact that this was probably the last doodle before he sucked it up and went to test if Langa was his soulmate. It was fine if he wasn’t, that just meant Reki had made a friend who was cool enough to like his doodles, and a pretty friend at that.

“Alright, Miya. Take this ove-”

“Excuse me, can I have a napkin?”

At the sound of the new voice, Reki turned around and lost every coherent thought that was in his head at the time. In front of him, Langa fiddled with his collar, his gaze fixated on Miya for a second before he caught Reki’s stare.

Reki could practically feel his cheeks glow rosy. Langa was pretty, he knew that, but having his full attention be on Reki was an entirely different story. His heart did somersaults as Langa offered him a small smile, his teeth pearly and white, and easily one of the most charming he’s ever seen in his life.

His chest tightened as he looked back at Miya, hoping that the freeloader would throw him a bone and help him figure out what Langa had said, because as much as Langa stole his heart and attention as soon as he walked in, Reki was at a loss because of it. Langa opened his mouth again, a smile still on his face, “Napkin?”

A warm fuzzy feeling worked its way over Reki’s body as he gathered his bearings, trying his hardest to not make a fool out of himself as he muttered, “Oh yeah, no prob—.”

The realization crept up on him as he felt his soulmark tingle with newfound warmth that was definitely not there before. In his entire life, Reki had never made a plan that actually worked. And while his operation to attract attention via his latte art wasn’t exactly the catalyst that sent him to meet his soulmate, it didn’t damper his mood at all. The scribbled on napkin he was clinging to fell lamely to the floor.

To be fair, Langa didn’t seem to be faring much better, gentle smile warping into a look of shock which then didn’t seem to go away. He clutched his own arm and pulled at his sleeve just in time to see the words written on his skin glowing in a faint golden light. Reki assumed his own soulmark was doing the same, but he didn’t check.

If Reki thought about it more, he probably would’ve said something smooth or romantic as his next words, but considering he just met the love of his life on a random Tuesday, he really couldn’t help the words which tumbled out of his mouth.

“Holy shit!” It was a loud enough shout to gather the attention of the customers in the shop, including Cherry and Joe who popped their heads out from the backroom. On a normal day, he’d probably shy away from all of the awkward attention, but this was quickly shaping to be one of the most important days of his life so he’d manage.

Langa’s head whipped up, his scarf was even more crooked now but he didn’t seem to notice.

“You’re the reason I had ‘holy shit’ on my arm since I was two!”

He heard the room go silent before it bustled with quiet laughter, all directed at Langa whose face was a deep rose shade by now.

If someone were to ask Reki three hours ago about how he’d have gone about meeting his soulmate, he would’ve responded in an exaggeratedly romantic way, swearing he would’ve confessed through a foam heart or maybe even a suave pick up line.

But if someone were to ask him now, he’d just say something about napkin notes and maybe even recommend drawing a coffee cup monster on the corner of it, maybe he’d even encourage doodling a heart to get the message across.

Or maybe, he’d just suggest the key to meeting people’s soulmates was just through pretty mugs of hot chocolate.

* * *

“Twenty bucks, you lost.” Miya chirped from his seat at the table closest to the counter, watching as Joe side-eyed him before hesitantly pulling out his wallet. Reki and Langa’s date a few tables away acted as all the proof Miya needed to rub the loss in Joe’s face.

“I oughta tax you for breaking the candy jar,” Joe muttered before he tucked the money back into his wallet. Or at least he tried to before Cherry snatched it and handed Miya a little bit extra.

“Now we don’t have to deal with him moping about never finding _‘_ the one.’ Miya deserves the cash.” Cherry tossed back Joe’s wallet haphazardly, putting a little too much force behind it and nearly causing it to fall into one of the smoothie blenders.

As Miya’s eyes shifted between the lovey dovey date sharing a conversation over mugs of hot chocolate, and Joe and Cherry’s mini argument, he made the mental note to avoid hot chocolate and whatever made Cherry and Joe find each other.

Yeah, screw that.

**Author's Note:**

> talk to me abt sk8 on twitter!: [KKITSUNII](https://twitter.com/KKITSUNII)


End file.
